McGinley no longer the dark Ryder

Respect. That's what Paul McGinley earned from his peers for his impressive Vivendi Trophy captaincy in Paris last weekend.

"In all of the success I've had in previous things I've done, it's amazing how many people have said nice things this week," he said at the Alfred Dunhill Link, where he is just three shots behind Rory McIlroy, Michael Hoey and Richie Ramsay at halfway. "The coverage must have been incredible. The whole world seems to have been watching it."

McGinley confesses: "It’s been hell"

Paul McGinley reckons Padraig Harrington has the game and the guts to deny Tiger Woods the $10m FedExCup jackpot and future majors.

McGinley and Harrington after their World Cup success of 1997But the battling Dubliner is more worried about recovering from golfing “hell” so that he will have enough credibility with the young guns to land the European Ryder Cup captaincy at Gleneagles in 2014.

Lawrie puts family before Vivendi Trophy

Peter Lawrie has no regrets about putting his family ahead of a place in Paul McGinley's Vivendi Trophy side.

One out of three ain't badThe Dubliner missed out on a trip to Paris by just €15,210 when he opted to skip last week's Mercedes Benz Championship to be with his wife and new born baby daughter. As a result, he was leapfrogged in the rankings by England's Anthony Wall.

Seve - dreaming while he's awake

(First published on 11 October, 2005)

Seve Ballesteros has pulled off the impossible hundreds of time in his career. Now he’s determined to create another bit of history and snatch Des Smyth’s record by becoming the oldest winner in the history of the European Tour.

Few believe the Spanish maestro, 48, will ever regain even a glimmer of the form that brought him five majors and 72 tournament victories worldwide. But he remains convinced that he can lift a European Tour trophy once more - even if nobody else does.